Maderia Robins flying high in Budleigh Evening League.

The Budleigh Evening League is always a popular competition and, at the halfway stage of the season, it is the Maderia Robins who head the table, having won five of their six games to date, writes David Roberts.

Close on their heels are three teams, the Exonia Eagles and the Budleigh teams (Buzzhawks and Falcons), the Falcons having just picked up six points in defeating the Maderia Bluebirds last week.

In that match there were wins for Keith Edwards, Bob Gooch and Brian Crook (23-19), who fought hard throughout to win their rink, scoring six shots over the last four ends.

On the other rink, Richard Cooper, Gerard McCarthy and Don Huish triumphed 24-15, having got off to a great start registering eleven shots without reply in the first six ends. The coming week sees the Exonia Eagles play the Budleigh Buzzhawks and the Robins meet the Bluebirds in an all-Maderia affair. In the club matches there was an overall defeat in a mixed home match against Honiton, with the visitors winning 42-30, this despite a fine performance by Marion Lacey, Mike Shaw, Dick Mitchell and skip John Dill, who fought off a late comeback to win 18-17.

Against Axminster again, there was no joy for the Budleigh bowlers as they slipped to a 35-25 defeat.

The best of the home rinks being that of Melissa Camp, Hilary Medley, Di Dixon and Brian Evans, who lost out 14-9 in a low scoring match. The only match in the Tuesday morning Triples League last week saw a win for Team Ash – Gerry Roberts, Di Dixon and Tony Lim – who won 16-13 and the up-to-date league table shows Team Elm top of the tree with 14 points, closely followed by Team Willow with 12 points.

This week sees the Budleigh ladies in action against Devon County and in the Lane League they have a tough match against Torquay. The men welcome Maderia on Friday in a friendly over two rinks.

Budleigh Evening League table with all results up to December 20, 2018